


Barton v. NYPD

by whitchry9



Series: Avocados and Avengers [4]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ableism, Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Friendship, Gen, Handwaving, american law, bros being bros, legal stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:30:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitchry9/pseuds/whitchry9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint manages to get himself arrested, of course, and Nelson and Murdock end up representing him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HUGE thanks to feferipixies on tumblr, who answered all my questions regarding the American legal system. However, that being said, any mistakes are still my fault, and I did handwave a lot of the law stuff for the sake of the story. So even if you do point something out, I'm probably not going to change it.
> 
> Also, I did do research about how TTY works, but I don't know the exact protocol for when someone answers a call, so I handwaved that too.  
> BASICALLY THERE IS A LOT OF HANDWAVING IN THIS FIC OKAY.

“ _NYPD. NYPD. NYPD.”_

 

Matt froze. Why was the New York police department calling him? A case? If it was Brett, he usually called Foggy.

 

“Matthew Murdock,” he answered.

There was a slight delay before someone spoke. “Hey Matt, it's Clint. I'm calling using a TTY cause I can't hear you, so there's an operator who's gonna type out what you say for me. Cool?”

“Sure. Why are you calling from the NYPD?”

Another pause. Clint sighed before responding. “I might have gotten arrested. Can you come down and do your lawyer thing?”

Matt huffed. “Of course I can. I'll bring my partner and everything. What precinct?”

“84th.”

“And what were you arrested for?”

Clint sighed again. “Assault and resisting arrest. But the assault was self defense, and the resisting arrest was me just not hearing them to tell me to, you know, surrender or whatever. I don't know, cause I couldn't hear it.”

Matt sighed right back. “We'll be there as soon as we can. Just... don't do anything, okay.”

“Oh, they've left me well enough alone now. Done the mugshot and fingerprinting and everything. I'm sitting in one of those stupid interrogation rooms.”

“Clint,” Matt said firmly. “Just don't do anything okay. Goodbye.”

 

He hung up.

 

Matt sighed, and gave him a minute to collect himself before he phoned Foggy.

“Hey Foggy. We've got a case.”

“What? Now?”

“Yep.”

Foggy sighed. “Where?”

“84th precinct.”

“Jesus Matt, isn't that in Brooklyn?”

“Yep,” he replied cheerfully. “Wanna carpool?”

“We can't afford not to. I'll be by in 15 or so minutes. And Matt? It had better be good.”

“It is,” Matt told him, hanging up before he could ask for more details.

 

* * *

 

“So what is it?” Foggy asked Matt as soon as he climbed into the cab. He folded his cane up before replying.

“Clint called me. He's in a bit of trouble.”

“Clint,” Foggy repeated. “Are you talking about... Do you mean Clint Barton? Hawkeye?”

Matt nodded.

“Hawkeye called us for help? You'd think Stark has a team of lawyers at his beck and call that he could use.”

Matt shrugged. “Clint knows me. He knows we can be trusted. And he knows my number.” He grinned.

He was pretty sure Foggy rolled his eyes at that.

“So what has he done?”

“Nothing. Well, nothing outside of self defense. And he's... you know he's...” he lowered his voice so the driver couldn't hear him, “he's deaf right?”

“Um, no, I didn't know that.”

“Well he is. He didn't have his hearing aids in, so when the cops showed up-”

“Oh god,” Foggy winced.

Matt nodded. “They tazed him and arrested him for assault and resisting arrest. Maybe some other charges too, who knows. So he needs a bit of help getting out of this one.”

Foggy leaned his head against the window and sighed. “You and your superhero friends. Always getting into trouble.”

Matt smiled.

 

* * *

 

When they got to the precinct, the desk sergeant directed them to Clint, who was in an interrogation room. Upon entering, Foggy let out a low whistle. “Jesus you look awful. Did the cops do all of that to you?” Aside, to Matt. “He's got a black eye, half of his cheek is purple, he's covered in cuts and scrapes, and his one arm is in a sling.”

“Nah, the cops only tazed me,” Clint replied cheerfully. “The rest is from the Russians.”

“Russians,” Matt sighed to himself. “Of course.”

“You know them too?”

“I suspect not the same ones, but I've heard of their reputation.”

“Weren't most of the Russians in Hell's Kitchen blown up?”

Matt made a face. “Maybe,” he muttered.

Clint laughed.

“So, before we start, are you good with lip reading? We can use paper as well, but I think you're pretty good, right?”

“Yeah, I'll let you know if I miss anything.”

Matt nodded. “Good. So Clint, why are you here?” Matt pulled a chair out and sat in it. Foggy followed suit.

Clint huffed before starting to explain. “I thought I'd taken care of the Russian problem. It's been going on for a while. I bought the building, they weren't happy, etc. But a few months ago there was... well I thought it was over with. Apparently there were still some left over, because they showed up today and started making noise.”

Matt smirked.

“Shut up,” Clint hissed at him.

Matt held his hands up.

“Anyway, they managed to get a jump on me, cause of the whole not hearing thing, but I turned the tables and took them down. Someone must have called the cops though, because apparently they were yelling at me afterwards to put the bow down and surrender.” He sighed. “Of course I didn't hear them, and they didn't know I was deaf, so they tazed me. It sucked. Have you ever been tazed before?”

Matt nodded. “It's awful. But you're lucky they didn't shoot you.”

Clint sighed again. “Yeah, I know. They got me for resisting arrest and assault, but it was all self defense. I know it doesn't look like that, cause one guy took down like, seven, but it's not like I came out unscathed.” He gestured to his body with his good hand.

“Nothing broken though,” Matt observed.

“You can tell?” Clint asked.

Matt nodded.

“Cool.”

Matt grinned. “It can be helpful.”

Foggy, who had only been making notes up until this point, spoke up. “Boys, maybe we should focus on the case?”

“Foggy, you have to get his attention before you speak.”

“Right.” He waved at Clint. “Sorry. But we should focus on the case. What would you like us to do?”

Clint nodded. “Right. Focusing. I don't really know what I want out of this. I'd like the charges to be dropped. I can guarantee those Russians have records, and I've made complaints before. Plus, being an Avenger makes things go a long way.”

“Do you want to sue the police for wrongfully arresting you?” Foggy asked.

Clint shrugged. “I don't exactly blame 'em. They were just doing their job. How were they supposed to know I couldn't hear them?”

Foggy nodded. “Fair enough.”

Matt tilted his head and made sure he had Clint's attention before speaking. “Clint, there's probably a legal precedent if you'd like to sue them for wrongful arrest, as well as police brutality. Did they offer you an interpreter?”

Clint shrugged. “I don't think so.”

“Did they question you?”

“Yeah,” Clint shrugged. He hissed as it made one of his many injuries hurt.

Matt raised an eyebrow. “They questioned you without an interpreter?”

“I was fine,” Clint said defensively.

Matt sighed. “Clint, I know that you don't want to sue. I know that you can handle yourself, and that you're capable of speaking and reading lips and generally passing for a hearing person. But they are required, by law, to offer you an interpreter once they find out you are deaf. And I know you wouldn't have needed one, necessarily, but for a minute, I want you to think about the deaf people who aren't capable of doing that. What if someone else was assaulted and arrested because they didn't hear the police officers ordering them to surrender? What if they called for help because they were the victim of a crime, and couldn't explain that to the police? What if they were interviewed without an interpreter and couldn't understand what was happening?”

Clint sagged in his chair. “I don't want to sue for money or anything,” he sighed. “But I do want them to get more educated. You know, so they do whatever the law is supposed to be. Am I supposed to be offered a translator?”

Matt nodded. “They let you use TTY to call me, which was a start, but anything they asked without an interpreter could be thrown out if this does go to trial, because they didn't offer you an interpreter.”

Clint was quiet for a moment. “Really?”

Matt nodded.

He sighed. “This would have been super helpful to know back when I got arrested a lot.”

Matt frowned. “Were you ever offered an interpreter then?”

“Nope. I had my aids in most of those times though, but that was back when I couldn't afford shit, and they only sort of worked.”

Matt gestured to Foggy to take notes, and continued. “Did you serve jail time?”

“Oh yeah. A bunch.”

“And these were all interrogations that didn't involve an interpreter for you.”

“Yeah.”

Matt raised his eyebrows. “Well Clint, I think we may have a case. Systematic discrimination and directly disobeying the ADA.”

Clint nodded slowly. “And if I win, will we be able to get the cops to learn more about how to accommodate deaf people? Or at least you know, make them offer an interpreter like they're supposed to.”

“For sure. This could lead to an overhaul of the system. We hear a lot through our practice about people with disabilities who are treated unfairly by police, and this could be the push we need to get it to change. You're the catalyst Clint.”

“What?”

“Catalyst.”

Clint shook his head.

Matt grabbed Foggy's notebook and wrote it on a page for him. “Catalyst.”

“Not a clue what that means.”

Matt shrugged. “That's not important. What's important is what we're doing. Now, Foggy, let's see about getting Mr Barton released.”

 

* * *

 

They got Clint released without too much trouble. Bail was apparently not a problem for Clint to pay.

“Probably best not to ask,” he explained.

Matt was fairly certain Foggy was staring at him in awe. Finally, a paying client.

 

Before they left the building, Matt held his cane out in front of Clint, stopping him. “Are you okay going home?” Matt asked him, making sure Clint was paying attention before speaking. “Are the Russians taken care of?”

“Oh yeah,” Clint replied. “I'm good.”

“Because you can come stay at my place if you need to. No Russians there.”

Clint laughed. “Nah, I've got to get home to Lucky.”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Lucky?”

Clint shrugged. “He's my dog. He loves pizza. That's his other name. Pizza dog.” He sighed. “Anyway, thanks for all your help. Want me to stop by your office or something?”

Matt nodded. “Sure. Tomorrow, any time.” He handed Clint a card with their address. Foggy had been so excited to get actual business cards.

“See you tomorrow,” Clint grinned.

 

He took off down the street, presumably headed back home.

Foggy was waiting with another cab, and he and Matt climbed in.

 

“Fairly straightforward,” Matt said offhandedly. “I'm sure we could get him a settlement, but if he doesn't want one, what can we do.” He shrugged.

Next to him, Foggy shook his head. “You and your superhero friends. Who will it be next? Black Widow?”

Matt laughed. “Natasha would never get arrested. She's too good at her job.”

“Maybe Cap though?” Foggy asked hopefully.

“Perhaps,” Matt replied. Steve did have a habit of getting himself into situations that would end in arrest, but he usually got out of it because he was Captain America. But he wouldn't always be that lucky.

Maybe Matt would just need to make sure Steve had his card for the time that did finally happen.

 

* * *

 

Matt went out that night, just to do a quick sweep of Hell's Kitchen. He almost wanted to hop over to Bed-Stuy to check on Clint, but he knew it would take too long. So he crossed his fingers and hoped that Clint would really be okay.

 

He fell asleep quickly that night for once.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *handwaves at legal stuff* LOOK A DOG

He arrived at the office before Foggy or Karen, which was a bit unusual. But then he was usually still recovering from the events of the night before, or perhaps even restitching wounds that had opened in his sleep.

So he started the coffee and booted up his laptop to search for legal precedents for Clint's case.

 

By the time Karen arrived, the coffee was done, and by the time Foggy finally rolled in the door, he'd found a settlement from 2009 that he was fairly certain was exactly what he was looking for.

 

“You're late,” Matt scolded.

Foggy raked a hand through his hair. “Sorry,” he drawled. “But not all of us are as well put together as you. Plus,” he added, waving a bag through the air, “I got bagels.”

Matt grinned. “You're the real MVP,” he agreed. “But I did the law work. Come here when you're done, and we can go over this settlement agreement together.”

 

* * *

 

Clint showed up after lunch, his bruises apparently looking worse if Karen's gasps and Foggy's groans were anything to go by. His arm was no longer in a sling, although whether it should have been was another story. He sounded cheery enough though, and had brought a dog with him.

 

“Pizza dog, I presume?” Matt asked, bending down to let the dog sniff his hand. Apparently meeting his approval, the dog enthusiastically slobbered all over him.

“Yep. Lucky, meet everyone. Everyone, Lucky.”

“Clint, this is Karen, our secretary,” Foggy told him, tapping him on the shoulder before speaking.

“Hey Karen,” Clint greeted. “And I've got my aids in today, so I should be good when it comes to hearing you.”

Foggy blushed. “Sorry.”

“No, it's great. I still supplement with lip reading, so it's nice when someone makes sure I'm looking when they talk. A lot of people aren't that considerate, Tony especially. He keeps forgetting.”

“How about we set up in our conference room,” Matt suggested, before Foggy could start grilling Clint about how the rest of the Avengers were doing. “We've got a fairly good defense going for you.”

“Nice,” Clint beamed. “Hey, it's okay that I brought Lucky, right? No one's allergic?”

Matt shook his head.

“Hey, no, definitely bring the dog. I'm trying to talk Matt into getting one.”

Matt sighed. “I'm not getting a dog, Foggy. We've been over this so many times.”

“What, do you not like dogs?” Clint quipped.

“Everyone loves dogs,” Karen asserted.

Matt shrugged. “They're fine. But I don't need one.”

“Are you sure? You get hurt a lot,” Karen noted, sounding worried.

“I'm sure,” Matt replied. “Foggy, Clint, the conference room?”

“Right,” Foggy muttered, grabbing his laptop from his office before heading in there. Matt left his behind, knowing that Foggy had the settlement information on his, and it would be much more accessible if they wanted to show Clint.

 

* * *

 

They first explained to Clint how they were going to proceed.

“You told us you don't want to sue, so we're not going to do that. We are going to file a motion for the charges against you to be dismissed, and we might file another motion for the police to fix their policies for dealing with deaf people. Alright?”

Clint nodded. “Will there be a jury? I think I could charm a jury really well.” He grinned.

Foggy sighed. “No, there probably won't be a jury.”

“Although you would be good at charming them,” Matt added.

“Okay, no jury. So what then?”

 

Matt and Foggy walked Clint through the process. For all the times Clint had been arrested, he still didn't know much about going to court.

 

Of course, then the general public didn't know much about it other than what was on tv. And while Matt enjoyed Law and Order, he would be the first to admit it wasn't exactly educational.

 

* * *

 

When they'd finished for the day, Foggy walked Clint out, no doubt wanting to ask about all the Avengers, and Matt remained behind with Karen.

 

“So...” Karen began. “We're representing Clint Barton, the man behind Hawkeye. Who called you. Foggy told me,” she added before Matt could even ask. “How did you and Hawkeye meet?”

Matt shrugged. He hadn't quite thought through how to explain it to Karen.

“Tony Stark invited us to a party-”

“You've met Tony Stark?” she squeaked.

Matt grinned. “Yes, and the rest of the Avengers. He invited us to a party, as a sort of thank you for helping take down Fisk.”

“And you didn't take me?”

Matt winced. “It was only plus one.”

“And you didn't tell me?”

“...we were going to?” Matt offered.

Karen scoffed.

Matt shrugged. He thought it was a pretty good excuse. Better than 'he and his teammates took me home when I got hurt when fighting with them, because oh yeah I'm Daredevil, didn't I mention that?'

Karen shook her head. “You and Foggy with all your secrets. One of these days you're going to have to share with me.”

“I'm sure we will,” Matt replied. “When the time is right.”

 

He escaped back to his office and quickly prayed that it would never come to that. He spent the rest of the afternoon preparing a motion for dismissal.

 

When he finished that, he considered having to go back out and face Karen.

Instead, he started a motion to compel the NYPD to seriously reconsider their policies.

(He didn't get home til late, but he didn't have to face Karen again. Her and... her guilt. Matt had enough of that on his own.)

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *handwaves so much at the legal stuff that it creates a small tornado*

Clint came over to their office a few more times as the trial approached. Sometimes he brought Lucky, sometimes he didn't.

 

They spent one memorable visit simply trying to establish Clint's levels of hearing loss. It took most of the afternoon, repeated phone calls to audiologists, and finally, Matt just made Clint a new appointment so they could determine once and for all just how bad his hearing really was.

 

(They went out together that night, not to fight crime or anything, but just to jump between buildings with wild abandon like gleeful kids always wished they could. There also might have been a parkour contest. They both thought they won. Matt knew he did.)

 

Once when Clint brought Lucky to their meeting, Matt had somehow ended up on the floor with him, rubbing the dog's belly as he rolled around on the floor.

Matt might have become a little bit besotted, not that he'd ever let Foggy know.

When Foggy left for a bathroom break, Matt raised the question with Clint.

“Hey, do you think he'd be a good seeing eye dog?”

“Who, Lucky?”

“Yeah.”

Clint snorted. “You know, sometimes I forget you can't see, and then you say stuff like that.”

“What?”

“Lucky only has one eye Matt. He wouldn't be a very good seeing eye dog. Of course, he's not a very good _dog_ either. He's more a people than an animal.”

“That doesn't really make sense you know,” Matt pointed out.

Clint shrugged. Foggy returned. They resumed work. (Matt felt for the space on Lucky's face where his eye used to be. He hadn't realized it at first, but the dog was covered in scars. He must have had a rough time before Clint got him.)

 

* * *

 

Clint claimed not to be anxious as their court date approached, but Matt could tell he was lying, a fact that all three of them knew.

Matt didn't call him out on it though, although Foggy's terrible jokes increased in frequency.

 

It didn't fix anything, but it did help.

 

* * *

 

The judge was one Matt had experience with. She was good, harsh but fair, and definitely sympathetic towards people who were victimized by the police.

 

“Mr Murdock, Mr Nelson, I have here two motions, one to dismiss the charges against Mr Barton, and another to compel the NYPD to reevaluate their policies for dealing with deaf individuals.”  
Matt nodded. “Yes. We would like to have Mr Barton's charges dropped, given that he was not accommodated for his hearing loss, and no interpreter was offered during the interview, despite the fact that Mr Barton indicated he was profoundly deaf. The charge of resisting arrest is only because the arresting officers did not realize Mr Barton was deaf. He could not hear them making demands, nor could he explain himself and how the charges of assault were in fact, self defense. Not only that, but when Mr Barton was arrested, after the use of a taser to incapacitate him, he could not hear his Miranda rights being delivered. He was incapacitated, while already suffering from injuries he received while defending himself. He was not assaulting those men, they assaulted him, and Mr Barton merely did what was necessary to protect himself. The evidence of his injuries could clearly been seen, and those injuries were exacerbated while being forcefully arrested. However, these details are unimportant, because the charges laid against Mr Barton must be dropped, given that the interview and interrogation with him was in violation of his civil rights that should allow him effective and meaningful communication with the police officers. This did not take place. As you well know your honour, effective communication means communication with a person with a disability that as effective as communication with others, which often requires auxiliary aids. In Mr Barton's case, this would be the use of an interpreter during his interview. When Mr Barton called for his lawyers, they allowed him to use a TTY, which provides speech to text for individuals who can't hear. Despite this, they did not offer him an interpreter at any point. The 2009 settlement between the NYPD and United States of America stated that they would maintain a list of interpreters who were on call 24 hours a day. So it's not that they _couldn't_ offer him an interpreter, it's that they _didn't._ This is a clear violation of Mr Barton's right as an America with a hearing impairment. Because he was not offered an interpreter, any information from the interview that Mr Barton gave is inadmissible, and the charges held against him, as flawed as they were in the first place, must be dropped. Furthermore, we've also filed a motion to compel the NYPD to reevaluate their policies for dealing with deaf and hard of hearing individuals in order for them to be properly accommodated, as the law states.”

Matt smiled in the direction of the judge.

 

* * *

 

Both of their motions were accepted by the judge; the charges against Clint were dropped, and the court agreed to make the NYPD reevaluate their policies in dealing with deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Both Matt and Foggy knew that it would probably result in another settlement, weeks or months down the road, but they didn't want to spoil it for Clint, who had probably never won in court before.

Clint who was on top of the world and probably beaming, if Matt had to guess.

 

It wasn't until they were outside the courthouse that Clint finally managed to say something.

“Thank you,” he told them both. “So much. You guys ever need anything, just call. I'd be happy to help. I can't believe you got the charges dropped!”

“Considering how royally they screwed you over, it's not a surprise at all,” Foggy told him cheerfully.

“We could go through the history of your arrests if you wanted,” Matt offered, grinning. “I'm sure we could dig up something.”

Clint laughed and clapped a hand on Matt's shoulder. “Nah, I'm good. Thanks for this.”

“We will be sending you a bill,” Foggy informed him. “We've learned how to make bills now.”

“Um... what? Did you not know how to make bills before?”

“That's unimportant,” Matt interrupted. “What is important is you passing all these cards out to your superhero friends. Steve especially.” Matt passed him a stack of Nelson and Murdock business cards.

“You do know that Tony has an army of lawyers at his beck and call, right?” he asked skeptically.

“So why didn't you call them when you were arrested?” Matt retorted.

Clint considered that. “Okay, good point. I'll pass them around. There's that new guy running around, apparently, Spiderman I think, and the media really seems to hate him. If we ever recruit him, or even run into him, he could probably use you. As as for Steve... there is a rally coming up next week that he plans on going to, and there is a good chance he could be arrested.”

Foggy made a faint whining noise.

“You've got to remember Foggy,” Matt reminded him, “before he was Captain America, Steve was a punk kid fighting in back alleys. That never really left him.”

Foggy sighed. “Captain America is just fantastic and I refuse to believe anything else.”

Clint snickered and patted him on the back. “I'll let you be the ones to bail him out next time. I did it last time, and let me tell you, it was no fun.”

Matt was fairly certain Foggy paled at the implications of that.

He simply shook his head and started walking down the street. The sun was shining, he didn't have any broken bones, and they'd just won a case. Life was good.

 

Behind him, Clint was still laughing at Foggy's notions of an idyllic Captain America.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next installment- SPIDERMAN!


End file.
